Mitch McConnell says Trump will sign the bipartisan border security deal and declare a national emergency to get more wall money

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that
President Donald Trump would sign the border-security proposal
crafted by the bipartisan conference committee.

Signing the bill would fund the government, avoiding another
shutdown.

McConnell also announced that Trump would take executive
action to add resources for his proposed physical barriers along
the US-Mexico border.

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on
Thursday that President Donald Trump would sign the bipartisan,
bicameral border-security proposal crafted by the conference
committee and declare a national emergency to secure additional
funding for his promised wall along the US-Mexico border.

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"I've just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and
he - I would say to all my colleagues - has indicated he is
prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a
national-emergency declaration at the same time," McConnell said
on the Senate floor. "And I've indicated to him that I am going
to support the national-emergency declaration."

Trump, who was initially underwhelmed by the plan, could
use the emergency declaration to keep the ball moving on the
construction of additional physical barriers along the border.

Shortly after McConnell's speech, the White House press
secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement that Trump
would "sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated
before, he will also take other executive action - including a
national emergency - to ensure we stop the national security and
humanitarian crisis at the border."

House Republican leadership informed the conference early
Wednesday that the White House had signaled that Trump would sign
the final bill, according to those present. But many Republicans
remained opposed to a deal providing what they view as
insufficient funding for a border wall.

In response, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus
proposed a continuing resolution. But House Democrats are
expected to carry the compromise bill over the finish line.

Trump initially
panned the deal, but he said he would not want to see another
shutdown like the record closure that left more than 800,000
federal workers without pay for 35 days.

"I don't think you're going to see a shutdown," he added. "If you
did have it, it's the Democrats fault."

caption

Trump talking to reporters in the Oval Office.

source

January 9, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Trump will still take further executive action

The deal includes $1.4 billion for physical barriers,
considerably less than the $5.7 billion the White House was
hoping for and much less than is needed to build the hundreds of
miles of wall along the border that Trump wants. So Trump is
expected to
take further steps to add funding for the wall by declaring a
national emergency.

Republican members of Congress, especially those who have the
president's ear, have urged Trump to use his authority to declare
a national emergency and build the wall unilaterally.

Graham said Trump would be likely to use multiple methods to
compile wall funding, whether through repurposing discretionary
funds or declaring a national emergency.

He said the gap between $1.4 billion and $5.7 billion "can be
made up in two ways: the reprogramming of money through existing
statues, and declaring a national emergency and using that
vehicle to find funds."

Other Republicans agreed, including Sen. John Hoeven of North
Dakota, one of the appropriators who negotiated the
conference-committee deal.

"He still has those other options, whether that's finding
discretionary funds through [the Office of Management and Budget]
like he's talked about, or an emergency declaration like he's
talked about," Hoeven told INSIDER.

"He still has those options," he said. "And all along, I felt
like this might be more than a one-step process. So this is kind
of the first step."